On the fœtus in utero as inoculating the maternal with the peculariarities of the paternal organism, and on mental stakes in either parent as influencing the nutrition and development of the offspring / by Alexander Harvey.

  • Harvey, Alexander, 1811-1889.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the fœtus in utero as inoculating the maternal with the peculariarities of the paternal organism, and on mental stakes in either parent as influencing the nutrition and development of the offspring / by Alexander Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    somehow acquire syphilis, but have it in the latent form, and subse¬ quently give proof of the reality of the fact by the birth of a syphi¬ litic child, got by a perfectly healthy man. It is the case of a woman, who, as far as Dr Maunsell could learn, never herself exhi¬ bited any signs of syphilis, yet produced a syphilitic child in a second marriage, with a husband who never had the diseased With regard to the communication of secondary syphilis, in rela¬ tion to Mr M‘Gillivray’s theory, Mr Paget, of St Bartholomew s Hospital, makes an important suggestion. aI would venture to suggest,” Mr Paget writes me, u that you should try to find whether ever a woman derives secondary syphilis from her husband, unless she conceives hy him. Facts bearing on this point might prove, that secondary syphilis is not communicated directly by the seminal fluid, but by the child begotten with it; and this mode of inoculation being proved would go far to prove the foundation of your [Mr M‘Gillivray’s] theory.” I fear it will turn out, on in¬ quiry, that secondary syphilis may be transmitted directly by the seminal fluid, independently of conception ; but perhaps it may appear also, that its transmission in this way is occasional only and uncertain, while it is very frequent, or almost inevitable, when concep¬ tion follows intercourse. And a comparative observation of this kind, if clear and undoubted, would be nearly equally decisive.1 2 1 Since the publication of my former paper, I tind that Dr Montgomery of Dublin has been beforehand with me in this question as to syphilis ; and that he seems virtually, though obscurely, to enunciate the doctrine of the consti¬ tutional character of the phenomenon exemplified in Lord Morton s mare and Mr Western’s breed of pigs. Referring to these well-known cases, Dr Mont¬ gomery remarks :—“ Such occurrences appear forcibly to suggest a question, the correct solution of which would be of immense importance in the history and treatment of disease. Is it possible that a morbid taint, such as that of syphilis, for instance, having been once communicated to the system of the female [by a conception], may influence several ova, and so continue to mani¬ fest itself in the offspring of subsequent conceptions, when impregnation has been effected by a perfectly healthy man, and the system of the mother ap¬ pearing to be at the time, and for a considerable period previously, quite free from the disease ? My belief is certainly in favour of the affirmative. Exposition of the Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy, p. 18. 2 Important as is Mr Paget’s suggestion, it may be difficult successfully to follow it out. It appears, indeed, that of the children born syphilitic in the middle and higher classes of society, a very large proportion derive the virus from the father—a circumstance in itself favourable for the prosecution of the inquiry (see Brit, and For. Med. Chir. Rev., No. XII., p. 348). But in several such cases the mother never exhibits any manifest indication of the virus in her own person (Op. cit., p. 347—Maunsell and Evanson on Diseases of Child¬ ren, 5th edit., p. 452); and although she may not have imbibed the poison, the case given in the text on the authority of Dr Maunsell is sufficient to show, that the only certain criterion of her immunity may be her bearing a non-syphi¬ litic child in a second marriage with a perfectly healthy husband—a test which can be available only in a very few cases. If, therefore, such cases of latent syphilis in the female are common, Mr Paget’s inquiry may fail of an affirma¬ tive result only from inability to test them. Possibly, however, the instances of developed syphilis in the female, consequent on conception, may be numerous enough, and sufficiently decided, to lead to that result.